Moultrie students arrested

By Lori Glenn

Moultrie May 03, 2008 09:09 pm

— Two 15-year-old boys were incarcerated for carrying guns to school Thursday morning. No one was injured, and the identities of the juveniles were not released.
Colquitt County High School officials searched the boys and found that each was in possession of a small caliber handgun. One gun, a .25-caliber, was non-operational but fully loaded while the other, a .380-caliber, wasn’t loaded, Moultrie Police Department Investigator Seth Walters said.
The two are detained in the Regional Youth Detention Center and will appear before Juvenile Court Judge William McIntosh Friday, Walters said. They each face charges of possession of a firearm on school property, firearm possession by a person under the age of 18 and carrying a concealed weapon. Walters said he might pursue an additional charge of terroristic threats against one boy. Colquitt County Schools Superintendent Leonard McCoy said he is recommending expulsion of the students. As is policy, a school hearing will be held at a future date.
The incident began with an altercation on a school bus involving the brother of one of the offenders. A school official overheard the offender with the loaded weapon say he was going to shoot another boy, Walters said. Assistant Principal Darrell Funderburk searched the boy and found the weapon in the his backpack, CCHS Principal Bob Jones said.
Subsequently, after intense questioning led by Jones, information came forth about a second weapon carried by the other offender. School officials promptly called in law enforcement. The two offenders told Walters that another student had brought a gun to school in the past but wasn’t caught.
School officials are calling this an isolated event, and the investigation thus far has yielded no hint of a continued risk at CCHS or in the community. The incident was dealt with swiftly, McCoy said, and there was no disruption of school. Parents of the offenders were called in. They were cooperative but shocked, Jones said.
“It was dealt with. There was no disruption, and there’s no reason to think that it’s going to have carryovers,” McCoy said.
“I believe they were afraid of another group of boys. They thought they might be getting in a fight with them. I think they brought these guns for protection,” Walters said, echoing that there is no cause at this time to suspect any further threat.
“I don’t foresee any problems coming out of this in the future. I feel it would be safe to go to school tomorrow,” the investigator said.
Confiscation of guns at CCHS is rare, McCoy said, but efforts at beefing up safety will be taken to the next level.
“While I am pleased that the incident was effectively handled this morning by the high school administrators with support from law enforcement, it is far more than just regrettable. What happened at CCHS could happen at most any school, but it did not happen at most schools. It happened here,” the superintendent said. “We have done a number of things to enhance the student safety in our schools over the past few years, and they have helped. But, this incident this morning causes me to know that we must launch a district-wide school safety program that takes us far beyond where we are in prevention.”
“Monday night (at the school board’s work session at Odom Elementary), I am going to request of the board permission to launch an intensive study to determine other ways we can better ensure the safety of our children. I will set a committee that will include school personnel, law enforcement and others who can assist with development of strategies,” he said.
Patricia Smith has a son, daughter, nieces and nephews who attend CCHS. She was unnerved by the news.
“With all our family going to school there, that just freaks us out,” she said.
Smith would like to see the implementation of walk-thru metal detectors at the high school.
“If they had something on them, they’d know it,” she said. “...We don’t want our schools to be like the other schools, Columbine and Virginia Tech. They never knew that would happen then somebody all of a sudden had a gun at school and went to shooting. We just don’t want that to happen at our school.”
The most effective deterrent to violence in schools, McCoy said, isn’t walk-thru metal detectors which create their own set of difficulties but diligent instructors, students who take the attitude of “not in our school” and who report incidents as they occur, close cooperation between school officials and law enforcement, the use when needed of handheld metal detectors to follow up on tips and day-to-day effective discipline in schools.
“What makes our school safe from our perspective is the fact that kids have a relationship with faculty and are willing to talk about things. Mr. McCoy made the statement, “Not in our school.” If they take that attitude and let us know and have confidence in us, we’ll handle it in the most effective manner. That’s what makes our school safe. Ninety percent of what we find is because somebody told us,” Jones said.
“...Certainly at the end of the year, we’re more diligent. ...We’re a little bit more cognizant and a little bit more diligent. That’s what you have to be,” the principal said.
CCHS is manned with two school resource officers from the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office.
“We certainly want to take a proactive stance toward violence in our schools, but then again, I don’t feel we need to overreact,” Sheriff Al Whittington said.
McCoy contacted The Moultrie Observer to inform the public and ask for help in “sending a clear message of the significance of consequences for those whose poor judgment could put others in danger,” he said.
“There are severe consequences, and the kids need to know that,” MPD Chief Frank Lang said.
“It’s steep,” Jones said.
Any person with information surrounding this case or any other potential threat at the schools is encouraged to contact the school system and law enforcement. McCoy made note of the “quick support and professionalism” of both the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office and the Moultrie Police Department.
“We deeply appreciate the day-to-day cooperative effort of all agencies,” he said.